Hairopoulos: Stars flop in opportunity to pick up key points against Kings

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Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) keeps the puck away from Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (8) during the third period of their NHL Hockey game at American Airlines Center on Sunday, February 12, 2012. Dallas lost 4-2.

The Stars flopped in their opportunity to pick up key points against the Los Angeles Kings, one of a clump of teams they’re chasing for a playoff bid out of the Western Conference, in a 4-2 loss Sunday at American Airlines Center.

The start of the troubling whiff at home — in which the Kings built a 2-0 lead — bothered first-year coach Glen Gulutzan as much as the final result.

“We should’ve been ready to go,” said Gulutzan, whose team fell to 3-3-1 since the All-Star break and next travels Tuesday to Detroit, which has been dominant at home. “By the time we got in the game, you’re one mistake from being out of it. And that’s what happened.”

Gulutzan said playing time for certain players who were “not ready to go” is on the line.

“You’ve got to take away maybe ice time from guys if they’re not ready,” he said. “We had a few guys going…but we need everybody going.

“This time of the year you have to play a certain way. Guys have to be prepared to go and there’s no excuses for it. If we have to go in there and amp them up every night for games like this, then it’d be tough.”

The Stars blew a chance against the Kings, who entered Sunday’s game just four points ahead of them in the Western Conference standings, were finishing a six-game road trip and had played Saturday. Dallas is just 3-6-1 this season when their opponent played the day before.

Turnovers ultimately doomed the Stars, leading to two of the goals scored against Kari Lehtonen, including the game winner by Jordan Nolan, playing in just his second NHL game, with 8:30 left in the third period. The score — and an eventual empty-net goal by Justin Williams with three seconds left — ruined Dallas’ comeback effort.

The Stars, despite the rough start, charged into the third period, down 2-1.

Michael Ryder ripped the tying goal, his team-best 21 of the season, on an assist from Loui Eriksson just minutes into the period.

But Nolan’s game-winner serves as the ultimate buzz kill.

“We kept going and going, and then they came back and scored again,” Lehtonen said. “That was a tough one.”

The Kings built their 2-0 lead on a goal by Dwight King in the first after L.A.’s Anze Kopitar stripped Dallas’ Nicklas Grossman and fed King. The second goal came when Jack Johnson’s shot deflected off teammate Andrei Loktionov’s leg past Lehtonen on a power play in the second.

But Eriksson kept the Stars in it with a tip-in goal on a deep assist by Alex Goligoski in the second.

The loss is Dallas’ second straight at home against teams it’s trying to catch in the Western Conference standings, first Phoenix, now L.A.

“Either you want to get in or you don’t,” Gulutzan said. “It’s not going to come easy. At this juncture, you can’t wait around to see what a game’s going to be like. You have to play with some fear, some adrenaline in your body.”